First off: Hello! I've been an on/off visitor, was a very regular member in the CnQ days.. though not a contributor as much as I was just a thread creeper. :]
Anywho, I have 2 chins that share a cage. A few years ago my male had a health issue with a stone, which actually traveled into his urethra and needed it surgically removed. Long story short, he survived the ordeal but ever since has an issue with urinating on the shelves. I am pretty sure it is behavioral (if only for the fact that he was unable to urinate normally for a while, he basically had a temp. catheter in place to make sure his penis wouldn't be too inflamed after surgery so he could still urinate), but he now does this on a daily basis. I still do see him urinate in the bedding sometimes, but have caught him in the act so I know for a fact it is him rather then the other chin.
So to my problem: I currently have a melamine cage (see this.). If you can see in the photo, he -loves- to pee on the top left corner in the back, which then makes it run down allll the way down to the bottom of the cage, and under the Bass pan.
He will pee on the other shelves too, but that is his favorite. I have been trying to put several layers of fleece on that shelf in an attempt to soak up the urine, which may or may not work if they decide to pull up the fleece. And I've also been putting paper towels under the Bass pan (completely out of their reach) to catch the urine and try to prevent it from going into the panels of melamine.
I am looking for any advice that I might not have thought of to help this situation. If I put a tile there, it is still going to go down the wall and behind the shelf. I could keep using fleece.. but I'm getting kind of tired of that, and most of the time it doesn't even work as intended if they redecorate it. Not to mention it gets kinda stinky sometimes.
If I were to change the type of shelf (maybe get/make ones with a 'back', so it isn't just one panel of wood against the melamine), assuming it would be glued together to connect the 'back', would the urine degrade the glue and give me the same issue over time?
And then there is the issue of him not really caring about whether he walks or swipes his tail into the urine, so in a way the fleece does help with that, but might still have that issue if I try to just change the shelf style.
Sorry for the novel.. I have a problem with that. But for anyone that took the time to read it all, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Anywho, I have 2 chins that share a cage. A few years ago my male had a health issue with a stone, which actually traveled into his urethra and needed it surgically removed. Long story short, he survived the ordeal but ever since has an issue with urinating on the shelves. I am pretty sure it is behavioral (if only for the fact that he was unable to urinate normally for a while, he basically had a temp. catheter in place to make sure his penis wouldn't be too inflamed after surgery so he could still urinate), but he now does this on a daily basis. I still do see him urinate in the bedding sometimes, but have caught him in the act so I know for a fact it is him rather then the other chin.
So to my problem: I currently have a melamine cage (see this.). If you can see in the photo, he -loves- to pee on the top left corner in the back, which then makes it run down allll the way down to the bottom of the cage, and under the Bass pan.
He will pee on the other shelves too, but that is his favorite. I have been trying to put several layers of fleece on that shelf in an attempt to soak up the urine, which may or may not work if they decide to pull up the fleece. And I've also been putting paper towels under the Bass pan (completely out of their reach) to catch the urine and try to prevent it from going into the panels of melamine.
I am looking for any advice that I might not have thought of to help this situation. If I put a tile there, it is still going to go down the wall and behind the shelf. I could keep using fleece.. but I'm getting kind of tired of that, and most of the time it doesn't even work as intended if they redecorate it. Not to mention it gets kinda stinky sometimes.
If I were to change the type of shelf (maybe get/make ones with a 'back', so it isn't just one panel of wood against the melamine), assuming it would be glued together to connect the 'back', would the urine degrade the glue and give me the same issue over time?
And then there is the issue of him not really caring about whether he walks or swipes his tail into the urine, so in a way the fleece does help with that, but might still have that issue if I try to just change the shelf style.
Sorry for the novel.. I have a problem with that. But for anyone that took the time to read it all, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
